Pages

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Weather and Storms

Today we learned about weather and storms. We went through the definition of weather, sky condition, temperature, season, fall, winter, summer, spring, thunderstorm, tornado, snow, hail, hurricane, thunder, lightning, sunny, partly cloudy, sleet, freezing rain, rain and wind. On October 14th I posted "Weather Vocabulary" which shows the posters I designed giving the definition of each of the names aforesaid. This material is also available on TPT, to download it click on the following link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Weather-Vocabulary
Every time I explained the meaning of each card, I showed videos on you tube to my son to comprehend the context in real situation.

We glued the cards on our weather wall.

Furthermore, we investigated three experiments. The first one was to MAKE A TORNADO using a bottle. The materials we used were: glitter, water, plastic bottle and dish washing liquid.

Instructions:

1st step: Fill the plastic bottle with water until it reaches around three quarters full.

2nd step: Add a few drops of dish washing liquid.

3rd step: Sprinkle in a few pinches of glitter (this will make your tornado easier to see).

4th step: Put the cap on tightly. Turn the bottle upside down
and hold it by the neck.

5th step: Quickly spin the bottle in a circular motion
for a few seconds, stop and look inside to see if you can see a mini
tornado forming in the water. You might need to try it a few times
before you get it working properly. This experiment was really nice and easy to make. The glitter spinning inside the bottle made easier to explain to my son the science behind it.
According to Science Kids spinning the bottle in a circular motion creates a water vortex that
looks like a mini tornado. The water is rapidly spinning around the
center of the vortex due to centripetal force (an inward force directing
an object or fluid such as water towards the center of its circular
path). Vortexes found in nature include tornadoes, hurricanes and
waterspouts (a tornado that forms over water). http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/makeatornado.html

Our second experiment was to MAKE RAIN, which was easy to make and to explain to your child. All you need is hot water, plate and ice cubes.

Instructions:

1st step: Pour two inches of very hot tap water into the glass container
and cover with the plate. Allow water to sit for a few minutes.

2nd step: Place ice cubes on the plate.

3rd step: Watch what happens.
According to Web Weather for Kids the
cold plate causes the moisture in the warm air to condense and form water
droplets. This is the same thing that happens in the atmosphere as warm,
moist air rises and meets colder temperatures high in the atmosphere.
Water vapor condenses and forms precipitation that falls to the Earth
as rain, sleet, hail, or snow.
http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/tornact5.html

The last experiment was to MAKE FOG IN A JAR.
Materials: strip of black construction paper, tape, jar, warm water, food coloring, match and a bag of ice.

Instructions:

1st step: Tape the black paper on the back of the jar, so you can't see through the jar.

2nd step: Fill one third of the jar with the warm water and put a few drops of your preferred food coloring.

3rd step: Light the match and hold it over the jar opening. I suggest you light the match as it is quite dangerous for a child to do. After a few seconds, drop the match into the jar.

4th step: Cover the top of the jar with the bag of ice, and observe the fog forming.
According to Web Weather for Kids the warm
water heats the layer of air that it touches. Some of the water evaporates
into the air forming water vapor. The warm air containing water vapor
rises, and then cools, as it comes in contact with the air cooled by
the ice. When the water molecules cool, they slow down and stick together
more readily. The particles of smoke act as nuclei for “bunches”
of water molecules to collect on. This process is called condensation.http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/cloudact1.html

To end our lesson I gave a mini assessment to my son, which he needed to match the words with the pictures.

Inform me please if you need a copy of the exercise, or have any question, suggestion or comment. I would be very happy to help :))).

It was a very productive and fun day indeed :)). Hope you enjoyed my post. Thanks :)).

1 comment:

Welcome

Hi there,
My name is Fabiana. I am a stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I love crafting, cooking, baking, teaching and spending time with my family and friends.
The purpose of my blog is to share with other parents the things that I do at home with my children to help them to develop their learning skills. I also hope to inspire others and feel inspired to create and improve my skills.
Hope you enjoy looking around and please leave comments. Thanks!!
Fabiana